


Forgotten Ending

by orphan_account



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Bad Ending, New Beginnings, No Ship, Oneshot, Other, one memory, zelda perspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:46:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21782407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: When Link only has one memory, reconnecting doesn't go so well.
Relationships: Zelink - Relationship, sort of - Relationship
Comments: 5
Kudos: 38





	Forgotten Ending

“Do… you remember me?” She asked. She searched his face, but he let his matted hair cover most of it. There was no smile, no relief- only exhaustion. He wiped off the sword in the grass. It wasn’t the Master Sword. He tucked the chipped blade into his belts and unclipped the sheikah slate from his hip. “Link?”

She watched him flinch over the screen. It didn’t last long. He pulled up the map of Hyrule and dragged the map about until he found the place he was looking for. He hesitated. Under his breath, she heard him apologize. He took her hand, pulled her close and everything shattered into blue lights. 

When they landed, he pulled her weight against him so she could fall more gently onto the platform. Zelda’s eyes could not take everything in time. They were  _ landing on a Shrine _ , softly glowing blue like she had never seen. Her heart lurched for the gate but already he was escorting her away. Her dress clung to her calves as if she had been in the water. 

They walked slowly. The more steps she took the more she felt the grass around her sandals and the weight of Link’s limp. He was nearly carrying her, but didn’t have the strength to fully pick her off her feet. She blinked around the houses. People were staring- coming out of their buildings to watch. Someone ran forward. They were sheikahan- of course they were.  _ Kakariko _ . They were back in Kakariko in a flash and the people were swarming to their side to help them walk. Zelda felt too detatched to do anything but accept the help, but she heard Link’s faded voice say  _ thank you, Im fine _ a few times before they let him be. 

The village thinned out before the staircase. It was Impa’s home. A young woman at the top threw open the doors. She shuffled down the steps to meet them halfway. She tucked her arms around Zelda, but her eyes were on Link. The princess saw the fear and pain in her eyes. In exchange, she offered the woman a smile. “He’ll bounce back.”

The Shiekah nodded. A performative smile with good intentions. “Right; you’re right.”

Impa was sitting in a grand room to the side on a pile of pillows. Zelda couldn’t believe the age that had settled into the woman’s bones. The old woman’s breathing was thin, but overrun by the strength holding back her tears. Zelda, despite herself an all the manners she was taught, found herself wrapping her arms around Impa. Tears fell. 

“I’m back,” Zelda sobbed joy over Impa’s shoulders. “Impa I’m back.”

“Took you long enough.” Impa laughed and coughed, “sit, your highness. Please.”

Zelda nodded. She looked behind her for the pillow. She shuffled the old dress she still hated around her. She looked over her shoulder to ask Link to sit with them and not stand so far- ...off. He was gone. It was only her and Impa in the room. The door was closed. She heard Impa sigh. A few seconds later, she heard a high hum, and the sound of glitter on the air. 

“And like that, he’s gone again.” Impa laughed. She scooped up a teacup into her hands and passed it to Zelda. The princess had no idea how cold her hands had been until the mug warmed them. Gently she sipped it and her body remembered what it was to be alive, thirsty, hungry, and slightly overwhelmed. “Zelda, how are you?”

Zelda blinked. Her breath disturbed the surface of the tea and she watched the ripples. It was entrancing. “I… don’t know. I have a thousand thoughts and white noise at the same time. Maybe the thoughts are the white noise…”

“You are your thoughts.” Impa spoke with the warmth of summer. “The white noise is the absence of evil. You have won, little bird. We are proud of you both. This is a glorious day in Hyrule, and we will sing of it for generations to come.”

Zelda nodded until she could smile, and then smiled until she could laugh. She laughed until she cried. She cried until her breathing steadied and she could finish her tea. It was over. The price they paid, the price everyone had paid, had won them Hyrule’s peace. Zelda found herself looking to the door again. She wanted to thank him, congratulate him, ask if he was alright. This was his victory, too. He could do with a cup of tea. 

“He’ll come back when he wants to.” Impa could not keep the maternal note from her words. “He can’t get enough of our carrots and pumpkins anyhow.”

Zelda plucked through the strings on her heart. “Did he get the pictures I left him?”

Impa’s large brim tipped, and the medals jingled around her. “He is himself, but only just. His priority was restoring you to Hyrule. He has worked hard to do so.” 

“He doesn’t remember.” Zelda drew her knees up to her chest and set the teacup on top. It wasn’t a surprise. She suspected that his memory would not be intact. That’s  _ why _ she had left the memories for him to find. He had been single-minded in his task (oh how like him that was) and… Well, maybe now they could do it together. “Well he’s definitely earned his rest. And… as much as I hate to say it, I think I need it, too.”

Impa nodded. “Good, you have your wisdom about you. Paya, dear, set our guest a place in our home. She’ll be with us a while.”

The young woman, her pain replaced with hope and fire, peeked in the door to give her grandmother a hearty Yes. Zelda chatted about Kakariko, and the seasons, and vegetables and all sorts of little things about Hyrule that she had missed. She fell asleep in the room with Impa, and hours later, awoke to Paya helping her to her new room. Had she laid awake in bed, she would have worried for Link. Had she laid awake to stare at the ceiling, she may regret how things turned out. She thought none of these things, because sleep claimed her the second she sat down in a bed.

~*~*~*~*~*~

A week past and Zelda held more debates with herself and her own ideas than any meeting of her father’s council could accomplish in the same time. She did however, despite all of her own proposals, make just as much  _ progress _ . She only had one question- “What now?”, and she had  _ so many _ answers and options that her only concrete response had been ‘I need a nap’. 

She now stood in Claree’s shop, her arms extended and her mind slowly settling back into the present. The woman had not stopped whispering, thinking aloud while trying not to distrub the Princess’ trance. Zelda blinked through her mental noise and found her reflection staring back at her. 

“Alright, I’ll wrap this up.” Claree beamed. “Come back in a few days and I’ll have something new for you.”

“Oh, yes, thank you. That would be helpful.” Zelda blushed. The shiekah armour was lovely, but her only other outfit was still that damned prayer dress. “What do I owe you?”

“Space to work.” Claree winked. “Besides, you have company, so go on.”

Zelda assumed Paya, who’s company she was starting to cherish. However, when she stepped out into the daylight, it was Link who was standing nearby. He looked better. He looked rested, considerably healed, and in fresh clothes. His hood was drawn up to almost cover his face, but it did nothing to hide him from the villagers. They just knew to give him a bit of breathing room. 

“Hey,” she said. “I’m glad you’re okay.” 

He nodded. He didn’t exactly meet her eyes. “You too.”

“Well,” she curtsied with a gentle smirk, “to what do I owe the honour?”

He nodded, as if to say  _ of course _ , or perhaps  _ it needs be done _ . He unclipped the slate and found a different place on the map. This time there was no apology. He only extended his hand; an invitation. She accepted. He showed her the slate this time, and placed it in her hands. He pointed to the mark in the center of the map. Following his cue, she tapped it. 

_ Travel _ . 

She couldn’t contain the smile, the absolute effulgent joy. She glanced up to see if he felt it too, but there was nothing. It  _ cut _ her. She sheeplishly looked back at the device, slipped her hand around his side the way he had carried her to Kakariko, and pressed ‘travel’. 

Even if she had expected the sensation this time, it still tickled her from the inside and she couldn’t help but laugh as she flew over her kingdom. She landed much more gracefully this time, toes to heel, and breathed in the open wild air. She felt Link slip out of her arm and take his paces back. He waited for her to realize where they were. 

They stood amidst the Ancient Columns on the edge of Tanager Canyon. They stood on the shrine plate, and the once silent stone now hummed with orange sleep. She looked over her shoulder at Link. “You did! You did see the places I had left for you!”

He spoke just loud enough to be heard, like a child caught red-handed. “Just… just this one.” 

“But what about the others?” 

He shook his head. Then, as if to sweep that subject under the rug, he nodded toward the pedistal outside the shrine. “If you touch the slate to it, the door will open. I haven’t been inside yet. I thought you should be the first to see it.”

The only thing he remembered was her losing her temper? No wonder he never met her gaze, and no wonder he now kept his distance. All the growth, all the bonding they had accomplished before the Calamity was lost. In his mind, she wanted nothing to do with him. She stepped forward to argue, but as she pulled her foot forward he shifted his foot back. One hundred years ago, she had wanted him gone. Now, when she wanted his company more than ever, he only wanted to leave. 

Right, there was the shrine. She took a deep breath. The exceitement boiled up to her surface. She was finally going inside. She placed the slate on the pedistal, and though her eyes fixed on the pieces of the door sliding open, the sound overcame her senses. She saw inside, and instead of a sacred expanse, there was only a blue glowing platform. She studied the markings on the platform, and before she moved toward it Link was already behind her. 

“The shrine itself is underground.”

“I figured that much.”

They stood, side by side on the cramped space, quietly. Link kept his hands folded into one another, and Zelda kept her hands on the slate. Her fingers tapped around its curved edges. It was a short trip down to the bottom of the shaft, but the tension of it carved itself into her memory. 

Zelda wasn’t sure what to expect down below, but a wall with an empty room beyond was not it. These were supposed to be puzzles and training exercises, and there wasn’t even- 

“Shit.” Link stepped off the platform, and held out his hand for the slate. Zelda gently turned it over. Link poured over it. As he tapped the screen his equipment flickered blue about him. He changed his armour, his weapons, several times, and pulled a meal and an elixer out before passing her back the slate. “Don’t go through that doorway. It will lock behind me.”

“Right, okay.”

She found herself following him three paces behind. As he went through the doorway into the open room, she stopped. The floor in the room ahead brought up a small guardian, in a shape and style she had never seen. Her heart  _ screamed _ . She remembered the desert sands and the shadows of the Yiga- with only Link standing between her and certain death. The Guardian ahead made its first strike, and Zelda could not stand between the Guardian and him. The blue light of a door kept her outside while he fought to the Guardian’s death. 

She couldn’t follow the whole fight, not really. There were lazers and swords and an axe at the same time and sometimes Link would move without her seeing. The Guardian burst into flames, smoke and orange sludge and Link’s entire posture sagged into relief. He bent down, scooped the debris into his arms, and dragged them all out back to Zelda. She held up the slate for him so he could put things away.

There was an ancient core, intact. Zelda stared at the screws he put away with absolute indifference. He dropped in the axe and it slipped right into place. Then, much to Zelda’s surprise, he sheathed the sword and reduced the shield to their phsycial forms. Then he took the slate out of her hands, and handed the two ancient tools to her. She stared at them for a second before strapping the shield to her left arm, and weilded the sword in her right. He took a step back. 

“Flick it.”

She did, and the sword and shield came to life. They  _ hummed _ against her skin. They wanted to be alive, they wanted to be  _ unleashed _ . She bounced on her toes. She let go of a laugh. “Good thing I never managed to get down here by myself, huh?”

Link nodded. For a glance, she caught him smile. She struck a few poses. Link loitered by the door. He nodded for her to follow. There was  _ more _ ? He gave her the contents of the chest that appeared, and he paid homage to the Monk at the end of the shrine. She could not see what he recieved, but she saw his hand press over his heart. The Monk faded from existance and they left. 

The orange light that had framed the shrine when they first arrived now sunk into a calming blue. Zelda’s heart raced. Link leaned on the pedistal and waited for her monologue, but none came. Instead, she moved to take the shield off her arm.

“No, keep them.” Link muttered. He pulled up the map onto the slate and highlighted Kakariko Village. “Calamity Gannon may be gone, but that doesn’t make Hyrule safe. I’m sure Impa will be more than happy to teach you to use them. We should get you back before night falls.”

She nodded. She had ancient weapons. She had the weapons beloning to a Guardian type that she had never seen before. They were  _ hers _ and Link had gotten them for her. He didn’t need to ask her to stand close to him while he pressed the Travel Button. He did, however, tense up as she leaned her head on his shoulder. When they landed in the Village, she stepped off the platform with grace. She turned to Link to start a coversation, but he was already disappearing in lights.

She went back to Impa, and excitedly chattered about her day until the old woman needed sleep. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

On the cusp of Spring, Zelda skipped and shuffled down the hill from Purah’s Lab. The deactivated ancient sword hung from her hip. Zeda’s steps bounced across the dirt. She had a goal, she had a plan, and she had crafted it herself. Her life was new. What she needed now was a little help. She had thought it out, considered her options, and now it was time to execute the plan. 

She crossed the bridge and knocked on the door of the dark house. She faintly heard stirring inside, and then the steps came to the door. It opened a crack, and it reminded her of when Purah was deep in a project. She suspected that this gentleman had no such project keeping him awake- just an uninvited guest. One sapphire eye peered through to the daylight. 

“I heard that you’re the guy to see if you want to get into some crazy shit and survive.” Zelda smiled. She held out her hand. “My name is Zelda, and I intend to build a new research center in the Gerudo Bazar. To do that, I need some help.”

The cold stare of the eye broadened into a gentle pool. The door closed a bit. Zelda heard an uncomfortable amount of locks unshakled on his side of the door. The door creaked open, and Link blinked at the daylight. He held out his hand and shook it. 

For the first time since the Calamity, he smiled at her. “Charmed. I’m Link. What did you have in mind?”


End file.
